Sorry to hear about the mistake in the list. I know all too well that, despite our best efforts, some errors elude us.

For the benefit of all happy purchasers of this terrific tome, please post an accurate list of the gaffs provided for each effect.

I received two of the Automatic Trick Cards decks. One with which to play and one to resell on the secondary market 10 years from now for an obscene fee. I wasn't aware that Chris Aguilar printed this amazing deck. Chris, the deck looks great! The detail on the backs and edges is exquisite. Bravo sir!

Tom Frame wrote:I received two of the Automatic Trick Cards decks. One with which to play and one to resell on the secondary market 10 years from now for an obscene fee. I wasn't aware that Chris Aguilar printed this amazing deck. Chris, the deck looks great! The detail on the backs and edges is exquisite. Bravo sir!

Thanks! I'm really happy with the way it turned out. It all came together in about two and a half weeks of my spare time.

Composing the deck (using this free program) turned out to be much more complex than I originally envisioned (over 3000 unique marks!) but with a lot of sage advice from Richard (needed because no actual deck ever existed, just the sometimes confusing Deland instruction manual) and a stellar audit of the fifty two unique backs by Dustin Stinnet, I think we ended up with something that really honors Deland.

And, while I might be a tad(!) biased, it's just a lot of fun to play around with.

Not to be a contrarian, but the Mystery and Madness deck also lacks the gaffs for "Contrario."

While enjoying the hell out of this terrific tome, I'm inserting the appropriate gaffs on the page in the book that describes the effect that requires those gaffs. I'll eventually figure out what gaffs are missing and/or what gaffs are included and not noted. I'll inform you of the results unless Richard scoops me by posting the actual composition of the deck.

There are several tricks that use exactly the same gimmicked cards, so I listed those tricks. For example, DeLand's "Cinch Card Trick" uses the same four double-ended cards as one of Will Edward's tricks. I may have mixed up "Contrario" and "Canadian Wonder."

Ditto for "Nox-Em-All" and "DeLand's Ace Trick." But I think I forgot that the two Aces must have two different Sevens on the backs (or the guy who made up the deck for me made an error).

I am posting this late. I'm sorry.I received the book on December 20th in Mexico City, just in time for Chrstmas, the box remained on the tree until 25th morning.The package, the cushion material, the inner box, the slipcase, the book, the deck ... all are gorgeus. Very fine book, a lot of interesting material and pictures, great quantity and quaity of old photos and republished booklets.My family agreed is not a cheap book (in regular terms) but it is worth the price and considering is Richard's work for last 15 years about a man who lived 100 years ago we cannot put a price on it. How you put a price to 15 years of work?One more time thank you and kudos to Richard for this fine books.

No.The printer had a new machine for tipping in this type of thing, and we had not used it before. I was surprised at the stain on the card, but there's nothing to do about it.Sorry.You can still obviously play with the trick for your own edification, but the stain means it cannot be performed for a laymen.

The same card (actually a better version of it) is included with the Mystery and Madness Deck that comes with my DeLand book.

I was playing around with the Phantom gaff, and I found that the fake edges are too dark. So I made my own, but I set the fake edges as 50% gray. This looks much better to my eyes.

If you have a color printer and minimal proficiency with any graphics program (I used Illustrator), this is not hard. Free EPS files of playing card faces are easy to find online. You can easily choose any cards you like.

What I did for the Phantom was print the four-face gaff and glue it onto the back of a regular card. Add a double-facer and you are good to go. I haven't gotten too far into the book, but I'm pretty sure I could recreate most of the gaffs in a similar fashion.

I also feel that the lines are too dark and don’t understand why they weren’t printed with the same light gray edges used for the card that came with the December issue for the Eureka Card Trick. That card was perfect!

Please keep in mind that just because your spectators don’t say anything about the cards doesn’t mean that they didn’t notice anything suspicious. Perhaps they don’t want to be rude, are just plain shy, or feel that it would be inappropriate to point it out to the performer. In essence, it’s possible that they are just being polite. So, unless you actually ask them for feedback which you typically would not do, there is no way you know if you fooled them or not.

Try performing the Phantom Card Trick for a group of outspoken teenagers and then see what happens.

I have held the original gaff and my 50% gray version next to an actual spread of cards. The lighting of the real spread matters a lot in terms of how dark (and how thick) the edges look, but the 50% looked noticeably better in every lighting condition I could find.

Of course, that doesn't mean the original is not usable. But it was so easy for me to make my version that if it's better, it's worth it.

Of course the real proof is trying it out. I will show some of my 7th graders and see what happens. Keep in mind that younger people are not just more honest but generally have better eyesight as well.

Pete McCabe wrote:What I did for the Phantom was print the four-face gaff and glue it onto the back of a regular card. Add a double-facer and you are good to go. I haven't gotten too far into the book, but I'm pretty sure I could recreate most of the gaffs in a similar fashion.

If you are willing to do the arts-and-crafts version, the best would probably be to split the four faces from normal cards (with the face being the thin side), and glue them onto the back of a regular card.

Hi, I have been enjoying "DeLand Mystery And Madness", but I have a question about The Perfection Changing Card that was included in the Mystery And Madness Deck. On the back of the overlay card it says to copy the other side onto clear acetate. Where do I look for a sheet of clear acetate that can be copied on, and what type of copier ink will I need that will adhere to acetate. I saw the video of this card on your Facebook page, and it is awesome. Thank you very much for having these cards reproduced so we can enjoy them. Richard Leach